As the God of Murder made his unbecoming attempt to flee, and thoroughly failed, Eden felt his powerful soul attached to his body. It was filled with power, and overpowered any of the Evil Spirits attached to him.
After a moment, Astarion asked with a gulp, "You did not just murder the Lord of Murder, did you?"
Eden shook his head, explaining, "It was only a portion of his soul. He is weakened, but far from dead."
Seeing everyone was silent, Eden approached Sylfine, offering her a hand. She hesitated for a moment, before taking it as he said, "So, now you know. Do you think I should have told you?"
The Half-Elf looked at her companions, then down at her hand, which she easily turned into a claw, the action feeling so natural to her that she had probably done it all her life, and replied, "I- I don't think I'm ready to hear it yet, to be honest. But a few of my memories have returned to me. I'm really a Bhaalspawn, aren't I?"
Eden nodded, gesturing to Sceleritas Fel's corpse, "Yes, and this was your butler. Once, you had been twisted by Bhaal and his machinations. This memory loss is your chance to be the person you were supposed to be, instead of his tool."
Sylfine looked down, processing what she had been told, when Wyll interjected, "You know, not all Bhaalspawn are monsters. Duke Adrian managed to overcome his nature, and ruled over Baldur's Gate as its Grand Duke for many years. He was my father's predecessor, so I knew the man well. He is one of the reasons I do what I do."
Sylfine barely looked up, but his words still made her feel better as he thanked quietly, "Thank you, Wyll."
Meanwhile, Eden approached Alfira, who was shivering in a corner, and asked, "Are you alright?"
The expected terrified response turned out to be one of incredible excitement as she exclaimed loudly, "Are you jesting? This is the stuff of legends! Songs will be made of today, of what you just did! You stood against a God, and defeated him!"
"Technically he is only a quasi-deity."
Gale quipped, "It still remains an impressive feat. Or should we be scared? I really can't tell."
Eden rolled his eyes and looked back at Alfira, and said, "Legends or not, I'm sure you understand why you can't come with us now. It would be a shame if you got killed and no one heard of our song, wouldn't it?"
The Tiefling faltered, a part of her agreeing with him, and another unwilling to miss their next adventures. So, Eden added, "It's not like we are never going to see each other again. We are going to Baldur's Gate. Let's say we will meet at the Elfsong Tavern, alright? There, we will tell you are stories."
Alfira nodded strongly.
Having convinced the girl, Eden walked up to Ergon's unmoving corpse, looting what he had left him as he inevitably thought about the Binding Vow he had made.
[Lone Wolf's Bite: Permanently lose the ability to control any entity into serving or becoming an ally to the user. All entities killed have their soul stolen by the user. Incorporates Soul Steal Binding Vow.]
It had a much more unassuming name than Soul Steal, but was far more potent. From now on, any being he killed would have its soul stolen by Eden. There was no more escaping it, even if a soul was claimed, Eden would get it.
This was an extremely powerful ability, and for it, he had exchanged something equally valuable. From this day on, Eden will never be able to have forced subordinates and servants. Spells like Undead Servant and Evil Servant would no longer work, or Summon Demon.
Well, to be specific, Eden could still summon things and bring corpses back to life or unlife, but he no longer had the ability to bind them to his will, so he would just be summoning something hostile to him.
This also stopped him from using any kind of spells that would manipulate someone into becoming his ally. There was no loophole either as the Vow worked with Eden's knowledge, meaning that any magical means that he believed would force something under his service would not work.
This was why Eden had still not opened the Necromancy of Thay. The fact was, all Eden knew about it was that it treated on necromancy and bringing back the dead. It would have originally been an extremely interesting book for him, but with his Binding Vow, it no longer was.
But Eden did not know the limits of what was inside, which created expectations. These expectations, in turn, made the sacrifice even more powerful. Had he read the book, Eden would know exactly what he lost, while here, he did not know.
Undead and Evil Servants had always been a big part of Eden's skillset and strengths, making their loss extremely painful. Yet, that was exactly why this was what Eden had to sacrifice, as anything lesser would not have allowed him to get such a powerful ability.
On a more positive note, this huge Binding Vow managed to sync Eden better with his Cursed Energy, improving his control over it, and his Maximum Output, which improved his Innate Technique.
[Dismantle (4th Rank): Launch an invisible slash with a range of 20 meters to deal 180 magical slashing damage. Output: 480 CE.]
[Cleave (4th Rank): Inspect the target and use the exact amount of Cursed Energy required to cut them apart. Must be in contact with the target, deals a max of 240 magical slashing damage. Output: 480 CE.]
Eden's output had nearly reached the limit of 4th Rank, and thus Tier I. Any more progress would set his skill into 5th Rank, or Tier II.
The third attack of Shrine, Divine Flame, was still nowhere to be seen, however, and Eden was started to suspect it was Shrine's Reversal, like Red for Gojo Satoru.
Positive Energy, the product of Reverse Cursed Technique, was the opposite of Negative Energy, or Cursed Energy, and when applied to one's Innate Technique, would create the opposite effect of the normal techniques.
For Satoru Gojo, Limitless' Blue allowed him to create an attraction force, while the Cursed Technique Reversal, Red, created a repulsive force.
Since Shrine's technique was to cut and divine, then the Reversal would be to join and unite. Divine Flame might seem far from such concepts, but Shrine's techniques were related to the kitchen. Cleave and Dismantle were the cutting of the meat, while Divine Flame, which could only be used on targets that had been Cleaved and Dismantled, cooked them.
On a scientific basis, cutting something was separating the molecules/elements, while creating flames meant combining a combustible, an oxidizer, fuel and a source of heat, thus achieving a form of fusion.
On a more conceptual basis, Innate Techniques were all tied to certain concepts, Shrine's being the kitchen. If one took the exact opposite of cutting meat, it would be reassembling it, which did not really fit into the pattern. Moreover, merely reassembling things would just be a repeat of the natural abilities of Positive Energy.
Of course, maybe that reassembling really was Shrine's Cursed Technique Reversal, but then, where would Divine Flame come in? Was it a fusion of Positive and Negative? In any case, Eden was strongly suspecting he would only unlock the Divine Flame when he learned Reverse Cursed Technique.
While Eden was placing Ergon's equipment in his Inventory, Gale approached him, asking, "Everything alright?"
Eden looked over, and saw a slightly pained expression on Gale's face. He tried to hide it, but he was holding his chest. Eden nodded, "Fine, lose some, win some. What about you? Something is asking to be fed?"
Gale smiled uneasily, "You must be learned in the ways of divination."
Eden glanced at Gale's chest, where what seemed to be a tattoo was softly pulsating with a dark purple light. He knew that this was no mere tattoo though, but a fragment of the weave, tainted with Karsus' magic.
"I do have some items you could absorb… but would you mind me trying something first?"
Gale was clearly not comfortable with the idea, cautioning immediately, "The orb is extremely dangerous, and any tempering with it might result result the region being wiped off the map."
Eden smiled, placing his hand against Gale's chest as he said, "I'm only going to feed it magic, don't worry."
He closed his eyes, though he did not use his Talent, but his raw will to direct his mana instead. His Talent was supreme at energy manipulation, but only inside his body, while he was trying to direct it outside here.
Touching the tattoo, Eden clearly felt the presence of the orb in Gale's body, and its all-consuming hunger. He started by floating a strand as tiny as he could manipulate to the orb, and the moment it left his physical body, it was immediately devoured by the orb as Gale released a gasp.
Opening his eyes to examine Gale's condition, he saw the mage's astonished face staring straight at him as he asked, "Was that spellfire? Don't just waste spellfire on the orb, it would be far less costly to give it some weaker artefact!"
Eden shook his head, closing his eyes again as he transferred a larger amount of mana, explaining, "Don't worry, this is not spellfire. And it regenerates."
He transferred his mana in a steady stream, and after he spent about 100 units of mana, which was less than a seventh of his total MP, he felt the orb's hunger recede, as it appeared satiated, for now.
As Eden retrieved his hand, Gale was completely and utterly shocked as he mumbled, "This is the first time the orb has been fully satiated since I got it…"
He looked at Eden and said with a genuine smile, "Thank you, my friend. I don't know how I could ever repay you, for all you have done for me," he glanced at the members of the party around the camp, and Sceleritas' corpse, correcting himself, "Nay, for all of us."
Eden snorted at that, taking out the Scroll of True Sight, "I'm ultimately acting in my own interest. But since you mentioned it, I could use some help learning this. And other spells, too. You've gained access to 3rd Level Spells, correct?"
Gale nodded, grabbing the Scroll as he gave it a brief glance, and said, "Since you have a scroll, I should be able to help. As for 3rd Level Spells, if you really are interested, I can teach you as well, although I doubt they would be very useful to you."
"What about other spells? Ones above 3rd Level and which I don't have a scroll for. Time Stop, for example. Or Wish?"
Gale grinned, "Going for 9th Level Spells straight away? I guess that's the minimum to face godly beings. But no, unfortunately. While I did learn them, they were inscribed in my spell book. No mortal man could possibly memorize them strictly through their minds. I am afraid you will have to wait until I regain my power."
Eden was not terribly disappointed, as he already expected such an answer. That was why he had asked for spells from Raphael. He also already knew which two other 6th Level Spells he would ask from the devil.
For now though, Eden started learning with Gale, who turned out to be an excellent teacher. Although he was proud, and did not have all spells memorized, he understood them on a deep level. This was thanks to his abilities in Metamagic, which was the manipulation of spells. This had been taught to him by Elminster Aumar, who was arguably the best mortal wizard alive.
They did not start with True Sight right away, but instead added to his arsenal of lower level Spells, so as to strengthen his foundation as much as possible. He learned and mastered Ray of Frost, Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, Sleep, Longstrider, Fog Cloud, Hold Person, Misty Step, Cloud of Daggers and Superior Fireball, which was just called Fireball in this world.
Funnily enough, the only 3rd Circle Spell in the list, Superior Fireball, was the easiest one to learn, because of how much it shared with his 2nd Circle Strengthened Fireball. The spell itself was quite powerful as well.
[Superior Fireball (3rd Circle): Fire a streak of flames up to a distance of 50 (70) meters, making it explode at will or on impact into an explosion of flames, dealing 100 (175) fire damage to everything within 6 (9) meters. Cost: 350 (90) MP.]
The fight against the Phase Spiders would have certainly been much easier with this.
Meanwhile, as he watched Eden turn a whole section of the cave into a sea of flames, Gale had already become numb to shock as he muttered, "No Somatic or Material components, a perfect up-cast of Fireball… Sure."
Although Superior Fireball stole the show as Eden's new go-to offensive spell, a few others were quite interesting. Longstrider, for example, made him faster for 10 minutes, and was only a 1st Circle Spell.
Of course, Misty Step was the second most valuable, if not the best, of the spells Eden had been taught.
[Misty Step (2nd Circle): Step through the Ethereal Plane, effectively teleporting to an unoccupied space within 5 (10) meters. Cost: 170 (50) MP.]
Although Eden still wished to learn the last spell he had access to, which was True Sight, it had taken a few hours for Gale to teach him all these spells already, so they postponed it for now to rest a little, as night was fast approaching.
Lastly, Eden's Wisdom had improved quite a bit from learning all these spells, which would have cost tens of thousands of Dream Points in Dreamland.
With the Necronomicon in one hand and the Shattered Flail in the other, plus his armor and accessories, his Status started to look quite fearsome.
[Name: Ozymandias]
[Title: Monster Hunter II, Omen of Death]
[Talent: Soul Overlord]
[Perks: Tier I, Spirit Flame I, Will of Steel I, STD Free, Immense Cursed Energy III, Shrine]
[HP: 330/330]
[MP: 738/738]
[CE: 1681/1681]
[Strength: 27 (34)]
[Agility: 28 (38)]
[Physique: 29 (33)]
[Intelligence: 35 (41)]
[Wisdom: 35 (40)]
[Sorcery: 49]
[Skills: Expand]
[Currency: 10004 Dream Points]
"Oh, this is going to be fun."